Editorial: Public has right to teacher evaluations; Cuomo bill is bad compromise

Jun. 20, 2012

Shailesh Shrestha, a waiter from New York City, carries a plate during a June 13 Albany rally to increase the states minimum wage. It's one of many issues that is unlikely to be addressed before the legislative session ends Thursday. / Associated Press

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A Journal News editorial

New Yorkers have heard so much about the importance of teacher evaluations and heightened accountability in the schools, including from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has pushed the Legislature and school boards to buy in. Now he finds himself in the position of trying to sell lawmakers and the public on legislation to limit public access to the all-important data. It has been a tough sell.

Trying to satisfy objections from teachers and their legislative allies, the governor was making a last-ditch effort Tuesday for a measure to limit disclosure of teacher evaluations — in a matter unlikely to satisfy anxious teachers, curious parents or the taxpayers who foot the bill for public school teachers and schools. While hopes for passing the measure diminished Tuesday, the issue is not going away: A court has already determined the data must be made public under the state’s Freedom of Information Law, and any restrictions will have to come by legislative scalpel.

Finding a satisfactory compromise has been elusive. Under the initiative, which comes as the Legislature is due to wrap up work for the current session Thursday, parents would be able to get the evaluations for only their child’s current teacher. The legislation — it is among several high-profile issues still unsettled — would also disclose the evaluations of other teachers in the same grade or subject, but without actually identifying those teachers.

The restrictions would make it problematic for dissatisfied parents to “teacher shop,” or switch their children to a different classroom; they would be in the dark about the ratings — highly effective, effective, developing and ineffective — for other teachers. But that’s only in theory; it’s likelier that parents with the time and inclination would get the information about other teachers via the grapevine that exists in every school. Cuomo’s legislation, therefore, would simply make it harder for parents to acquire the ratings in a straightforward way.

Such is the making of an unsatisfying compromise in Albany. A court, many education reformers and notables such as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg have said all evaluations should be made public, to both motivate teachers and make it easier to move ineffective teachers out the door.

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Teachers and a bevy of educators have objected, on the grounds that the ratings are predicated on flawed measures and assessments. Parents, however, have told pollsters they want access to the ratings, even where they share skepticism about how reliable they are.

We think it’s foolhardy to tell the public that the ratings are vital; produce the vital ratings; and then tell parents and taxpayers they are entitled to only partial and obstructed views of the data. But that’s where the governor and lawmakers are.

Cuomo, anticipating time for talk later, said there was no need for further compromise at this juncture; the Obama administration required teacher evaluations as part of the reform effort that won New York more than $700 million in competitive grants to improve schools. Lawmakers already endorsed the broad goals attached to the federal grants. “I believe the bill strikes the right balance between a teacher’s right to privacy and the parents’ and public’s right to know,” said Cuomo, no doubt pleasing none of those constituencies or interests.